Media reports said Tuesday that the Turkish military launched a wide-scale military operation in southeast Turkey against the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). The anti-PKK offensive launched Sunday by the army in the mountainous areas of Hakkari is still on.
The reports said that the security forces stepped up operations ahead of the Ramadan to prevent any untoward happenings. The border crossings, used by the PKK militants in the past have been brought under strict control. F-16 military aircraft carried out the operations and supported the land troops to help gain control over all PKK strategic passages and locations. The Turkish Army declared that it is also policing the country's border with Iraq with surveillance cameras to prevent militants from sneaking into the country.
Meanwhile, the PKK separatist organization has ordered a ceasefire during the Lesser Bairam feast, which began Tuesday.
The PKK listed in the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms in 1984 for creating an ethnic homeland in Turkey. The two-decade-old conflict has killed more than 40,000 persons.
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